R.I.P. Piney

I guess I’m really not good at this ‘keeping up with the blog’ thing. Anyhow, I really do appreciate each and everyone of you who actually takes the time to read this thing.

So the RIP thing. . . I had the saddest experience yesterday. I took down my Christmas tree. . . my first ever Christmas tree. The guy at Home Depot said that if I watered her enough and added the little packet of stuff, the tree would last until March. . .

He lied.

I’m not naïve, I know it wouldn’t last until March, but I was hoping mid January. However, I noticed this past weekend that Piney (probably about as good as any name for a Christmas tree. . . better than Jerome at least!) was quickly becoming kindling. She was shedding and turning all shades of brown. . . and has this aura of 'spontaneous combustion' around her. . . I know that’s not a good thing.

So, yesterday, I took down all the ornaments (don’t even ask how I managed to untangle and retangle those strands of lights) . . . and then struggled to take her down to my garage, where I had to cut her up. Right now, she’s out on my curb, in pieces, waiting for the rubbish man tomorrow morning. I’m really really bummed out.

Luckily, I have my memories of Piney and how she brightened my holidays. Overall, the holidays were nice. Christmas was fun but long and exhausting as I joined my family at a string of family events. On the downside, at one of them, my cousin’s kid was rudely coughing up a storm at the dinner table. . . guess who got the flu! Yeah, the same girl who was bedridden for NYE and had Piney as her date (don't worry, even though Piney was my date, we didn't get intimate. . . it would be kinda pokey, I'd be vacuuming pine needles for a month and I was worried about that spontaneous combustion thing again). . . however, OTOH, it was perhaps for the better that I stayed in, considering the wet weather we had here in LA. Even today, I’m still struggling to feel 100% Anyhow, that was the holiday.

Have a wonderful ’06 everyone!